The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-11-25

1t certainly merits in not few respects the
words which Paul applied tohis native Tarsus.
Like that metropolis of Cilieia. 1t Is mo mean
city;sa in its location-sitnsted as it is, in the
very center of one of the richest agricultural
sections of our national donain-with the coal
fields on the one side and tpe newly discovered
gas belt on the other within easy
reach Of the valuabis hard woods of
quarres of the State. it has in close proximity
material resources which finnish broad ana
solid basis for commercial and manufacturing
prosperitYa Through its score and hall Oh
iron highways, reaching out TO all parts OF this
territory, it gathers in and sends out every
twenty-four hours hundreds and thou,
sands OF tons of The neoessaries, and
comforts, and iuxufiss Of life a
city situated is the Ereat beating heart OF
the body economic as weas of the body-politic-
Think of the change produced by the modern
means of TRANSPORTATION, by the scores of fast
freight and swift passenger express trains that
go out and come into the city daily, in contrast
the means of transportation were covered wagons
creeping along over corduroy roads, hauling
goods from Cincinnati at a dollar hundred.
Indianapolis deserves the title of mo mean
city" also by reason OF the broad and generous
scale which II ia laid out Evidently they
who planned this place were not men of pinched
ideas.
II cannot forget the impression made upon
me" continued Mr. Hainss, when | first came
to the City by the vide, shaded streets, the
broad and 'i and
public buildings. How different the older parts
of Boston, or New York, from the older parts OF
our own city. We have room: We are not so
crowded in any side THAT need to build up
into the sky. depriviue ourselves of a reasonable
share of mother earth, and stintine ourselves In
the use of Gods sunshine. When l walk
through narrow streets of some of our greatest
cities, and look MP at the towering six. and elsht
ana ten-story factories and Office buildings. and
APARTMENT and tenemSpthouses, packed fro IN
cellar TO roof with human beings. L ask is this
the best the architects this last quarter OF the
nineteenth century can do for usf
indianapolis deserves the title of no mean
city by reason of the character or its dwellings
/ refer not to the public structures, which are a
source of pardonable pride but to the houses
in which ;he people live. and which for the most
part they own. To q, thoughtful man what
pleasing sight that Is presented 10 him. not
merely by the finer residences along the central
avenues. but especially of the miles of streets
lined by long rows OF cottages owned by the in
mates. According to the census OF 1881, out OF
ia 900 families in Glasgow, Scotland, more than
forty thousand were living in one room each.
When we read how human beings are herded
together in the center of East London, or
in the downtown wards OF New York,
in rooms of wretchednees and saualor.
in tenements reeking with filth indescribaole
and vice unnamable we marvel, that plague
does not strike through those cities Truly the
great sad, tragic fact of our great cities is that
they are to a large extent filled with homeless
population Out of more than 200 600 families
in New York. but ID. coo live in homes of their
own houses. PHILADELPHIA is pre-emneptly IN
q
way. the citizens Of this railroad city NAV stand
up beside the resident of the City of Brosheriy
Love, and claim some share in the distinction OF
being designated as city of homes. For
this the building and loan assocla-
Tarsus was mo mean city in its zeal for learn
ing The inhabitants of this our modern intel
lectnal Tarsus. certainly do not lag far behind
the men and women Of Paul's birthplace in lit
erary arGor. Very few cities can show per
cent. of ignorance SO small as we have here. Ac-
aorAi 70 IN 1aS 1Nn thRra O6
three hundred and ftty-two persons, between
the years of the school age. who could not read.
The library in connection with our public
schools claims the pre-emlnence over all the
other large public libraries in the land in re-
spect to it's circulation proportoned to the
population. can but barely allude to the prl-
vate. public and professional schools. the read
ing clubs and literary and scientific associations
which impart that intellectual activity that is so
marked a characteristic of life here.
1--WE have reason for profound gratitude
that the spirit of caste founded on the posses
sion of money has gained such small control
here compared with what it exerts in many
other cities. There is freedom, unconven-
tionality, about social life that is in marked
contrast with the rigid. arbitrary, foolish and
contemplate way the lines drawn and dis
tinctions insisted upon in some places.
The best social circles. as a rule. are access
bic to all who, by intelligence ard culsuEs aud
courteous demeanor, show themselves wocth-
of being welcomed to fellowship. | am stating
what is the rule-you can point out certain ex-
ceptlons-but the rule In its substance holds
true.
"Indianapolis is certainly no mean city in its
charitable institutions and in its phian thropic
spirit. l subscribe heartily to this assertion of
a local historian: 1t is no idle boast to say that
Indianapolis has as comprehensive aud complete
a system of private charities as any city in the
United States That system. IN its present or
ganized, efficient form, 1t owes largely TO the
clear head the mastsrful administrative ability.
the unfagsing zeal of one man. 1t may fifty be
called city of charities.
'.In proportion to its population, II deserves
far more than Brooklyn the title OF a city of
churches. It was founded by men who as a
rule, believed in the Bible, and loved the church.
The biologists tell that the land upon which
our city. is built consists of layer of
drift, foreign in character and gen
eral in deposit Dig down through
this layer of dri # fifty feet more and you
come to the solid rock foundation, which. in
spite of the layer of drift ~upon it, determines
the general confeuraton of the face of the coun-
try. This glacial drift of a promscuous charac-
ter may, in some respects. symbolic the popu-
lation that has foated in here from distant lands
and diverse nationalities. Go back through
them fifty years and you come to that sturdy
rock foundation laid by the lives and characters
of our pioneer settlers. They were. most OF
them granite men, in whose hearts patriotism
burned like q flame and in whose lives the fear
of the Lord and the love of God were controlling
inspirations. Being dead, they yet live, and we
may be thankful that to this day they so largely
determine the tone of life in our city.
1--WE stand at the beginning of a new era of
material prosperity. Our city,, after period
rousine its energies. is frightening its borders
and streng thenine its stakes.
''When the first railroad came in 1S47it was the
beginning of a great commercial and manufact
uring boom; when the civil war caused such
important interests center hsre there a
tidal wave of added prosperity; and now, through
the discovery and utilization of resources of
ure which, until recent day, were undreamed
Of the city ia girding itself again to go forward
TO larger things.
who of Us will venture to predict how much
larger, who will place an Estimate upon the mul-
titudes that shall be gathered here when the
great Mississippi valley fills up with it's
more than q hundred million souis!
We see this, that ali over our land people
crowding into the cities. The country,
whole is growing at Unprecedented rate. but
the cities like huge magnets. gathering to
themselves the lions share They are growing
twice as fast as the rural districts In 1850 they
contained but 123 per cent of the population.
now they hold % per cent, and in thirty years
they will have clear emaj ority OF all our
swarming millions.
s.Fellow-citiZens if there is prosperity ahead